


Soldier

by KalleZot



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam (Voltron) Lives, Angst, Blood and Gore, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Emotional Hurt, Fluff and Angst, Gay Shiro (Voltron), Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Major Character Injury, Minor Allura/Lance (Voltron), Minor Allura/Lotor (Voltron), Minor Character Death, Night Terrors, Not on my watch, Past Child Abuse, Protective Adam (Voltron), Reunions, Seizures, Shiro (Voltron) is a Mess, Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Temporary Blindness, This will be sad, also, season 8 whomst?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2019-08-28 21:26:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16730937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KalleZot/pseuds/KalleZot
Summary: (Set right after season 7, before S8)After the paladins recover from the fight with the mecha, they are immediately throw back to work.Shiro now finally has time to grief properly, but something he thought would be easy to hide has taken hold of him for good, chained him to a sick routine. With both the former and current Black Paladins in deep grief, things are moving way slower than they should.In the midst of a scouting mission, Hunk and Lance are brought back to the place it all started, and, again, the reality that they are fighting a war, and that people are dying, is right before them. Only this time, there is one less victim; Even if his tale involves many casualties.





	1. Mountains

**Author's Note:**

> While I was writing this, I hit a writers block, so I closed the doc and went outside, only to find a fucking double rainbow, and if that isn't a sign then what in the fuck is.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People come and go, and life goes on, that's just how things are, and everyone should already be used to it; But it hurts, badly, specially when you don't have a chance to ever put things right.
> 
> On the bright side, though, information passed during an alien invasion of which Earth barely survived can be wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 8 is not out yet and I already discarded it. The devil works fast, but I work faster.

 

Shiro hadn't been the same since returning to Earth. Granted, Lance wasn't as close to Shiro as Keith, but even he noticed the man wasn't doing well. Back in space, they would find Shiro always on the move, training, discussing, maybe stealing a snack every now and again, but he never stayed cupped inside his room.

Not like this.

It was out for meetings, then back in the room; Out for lunch, back in the room; Out for Training, back in the room. He wasn't eating properly too, just lunch; Well, Lance wouldn't see him at morning, so he didn't know for sure, but he could ask Pidge.

... Some other time.

Right now, both him and Hunk were in a mission. They had to scout out the area around the Garrison in their lions. Look for loose galra and/or survivors. They went each to a different are in the desert, hoping to cover more ground faster, but with how difficult it is to grasp a sense of direction when everything looks exactly the same, it was clear that was not as great a decision as the both of them thought.

Especially as Lance noticed the very familiar formation.

"Holy quiznacking-" He groaned. This was starting to make him loose his patience. They had left right before sunrise, now it was almost nightfall, and Lance felt like he had been flying in circles this entire time. "Hey Hunk, any luck? Haven't seen anything yet-" He broke off with a yawn, rubbing his eye. His helmet had been resting in his lap for the past hour now, he couldn't stand wearing the thing the whole time he had been flying.

"No, nothing in sight." Hunk sounded almost as tired as Lance, even if he was eager to leave at the ass crack at dawn. "Oh, wait- No, didn't find anything important, but this is where we found the blue lion!" Lance received the live footage of Hunk's lion, and sure enough, there it was. He couldn't see it so well, as Hunk was pretty far away, but he did recognize the gigantic hole they left on the rock formation when first flying Blue. "Wanna check it out?" Lance looked around a last time, and found nothing. It had been a while too, they would need to go back soon, so why not.

"Sure, I always wanted to see what else was in there." He turned Red around, flying back to where it all started.

The starting point of everything.

 

\---

 

As soon as the two paladins landed, they felt both lions purring. A mix of knowing and grief. This is where one of them spent ten thousand years, locked away from the world, waiting for a paladin. Lance took a long moment to observe the entrance. This was where he first became something else; Screw it if he had no talent, if Blue picked him out of pity, he didn't care. Lance went from just a cargo pilot that lucked out and became fighter class out of need, to someone with worth. Out of everyone, Blue choose him for a paladin, the second pilot of the Blue Lion. And damn, did it feel good to think about it that way. As he moved towards the cave, he remembered their first days as paladins, their first victories, their first struggles, and-

"Umfh-" Quiznack.

"You okay there Lance?" He'd tripped. Right when he had been having a great internal moment. He tripped and face planted right in the sand.

"Just peachy. Just. Peachy." He growled, pushing himself up. Hunk rolled his eyes, but Lance saw the bastard smiling. "Man, tripping over my own feet... What the hell. Also, is it just me, or that dune had something pocking out of it." Hunk crouched next to him, this time with a confused expression.

"Uh, Lance... You didn't trip on thin air." He started to dig the sand away with his own hands, little by little revealing a piece of metal, maybe the size of a leg? "Hold on," He pulled the piece out of the sand, and it was indeed bigger than Lance first thought. "What do you think?" The both of them looked at each other for a moment, and Lance pushed himself back up, taking a better look at it. It was painted white, with a orange stripe, cut off on the border.

"That's... This belongs to the garrison..." Hunk turned the piece, trying to take a better look.

"Yeah..." He let go of the piece, watching as it thumped back in the sand, lifting a tiny smoke. "Must've been from when the galra first attacked..." His voice went quiet, uncomfortable when facing the reality. Someone had died here, protecting Earth. Hunk turned away from it, his eyes starting to burn, but he didn't stick around, instead walking towards the cave. He needed to occupy himself with something else, and Lance had the same idea.

The first step in the cave was accompanied by a cold feeling. They could almost picture their younger selves. They changed a lot, but that was expected, after so much time in space. Training, fighting, killing, bleeding. Maybe they would try to deny later that people died, but Lance knew that they killed, of course, it was the galra or the paladins, but it didn't change that he blew more ships than he could count, that he shot the heads of various galra soldiers. He felt bad for taking a life, but he wasn't dumb to say he had any other choice.

He wasn't that dumb.

"Whoa, can you believe it's been almost five years?!" Hunk rushed over deeper in the cave, avoiding the hole that opened right below their feet. The darkness they were in was a strange contrast to how they first entered. It felt so much colder, so ominous, kind of like in a horror movie, but he didn't felt exactly scared. Just... Nostalgic, perhaps. He remembered the first time they had the vision of Voltron, the moment that Blue kept following him with golden eyes. The whole experience was returning, even if he wasn't down there, where it happened.

He was glad he didn't decide to check the lower cave.

He couldn't see, but he heard it, someone struggling in the dark.

 

\---

 

Keith knocked on Shiro's door, holding a bag with some food on his left hand. He understood he was grieving, but Shiro hadn't been eating properly since he found out Adam was dead, and it had been five days now, which wasn't long, but considering how eventful these five days had been, Keith would bet the situation was as bad as if had been lasting for a month.

He sighed, hearing some silent movements from inside. The higher ups were asking about him all day, but it was the anniversary of the Kerberos mission. Maybe that was what kept Shiro cooped up in his room the entire day. But he needed to react, even if Keith was one to talk.

He wasn't any better when he found Adam was dead, but he had his mother to provide some sort of comfort, he had been socializing more, trying to distract himself when the pain became too much. Shiro was definitely not doing anything other than mulling over his loss. Their loss.

He almost missed the door opening, just little, barely showing anything of the apartment. Keith went to push the door open, but found some resistance; Shiro silently saying he wasn't in the mood for talks. Keith sighed, but lifted the bag anyway.

"Dinner. I'm pretty sure you didn't eat anything the whole day." He waited, hand holding up the bag, but instead, Shiro was already closing the door. "Wait," Keith put his hand on the door, preventing it from being closed, and Shiro let go of it. "Just... Try and eat something. You also need to get out of the apartment." He didn't push the door all the way, clearly the former black paladin needed his space, and, as much as Keith really wanted to drag him out, Shiro deserved time to grief.

"... Thank you, Keith." He finally gave in, took the bag with his metal hand, but he didn't close the door. "I'm... I'm sorry... It's just- The whole- I mean, I get it but-" He paused, took a deep breath, and there was silence again, leaving a big enough window for Keith to feel the weight of the situation one more time. "I guess it's not helping, that everyone just seemed to forget about him. It's like from everyone in the whole Garrison, we're the only ones who still remember him..."

"Shiro, you know that's not true-"

"I know! But it just- His biggest fear was being forgotten, and now- Now I see why, it's horrifying, and the worst part is that I'm supposed to do the same thing and move on, but how can I do that when Adam specifically confessed to me that the one thing that kept him going was shoving his name up on the lists and now he's dead and the only place you find 'Adam Weiss' is in that _damned_ memorial and nowhere else-"

"Shiro, Calm down!" Keith shoved the door open and grabbed the man by his shoulders, making it clear that Shiro needed to gather himself back up. "Breathe." Shiro's eyebrows shot right to his hair line, but he did as told, and took a deep breath. "Do you want to talk about this, calmly?" Keith loosed his grip, now that the other had composed himself a bit.

"...No, thank you... I," He cracked a smile, but it carried nothing other than his pain and misery. _This was eating him alive_. "I already vented out, you can go now. Check in with Hunk and Lance, they're supposed to be back by now. I'm going to... Eat... Maybe try and sleep..." Shiro closed the door, but before Keith was left in the silence of the hallway, he heard a muttered _"Can't even close my eyes..."_ behind the door.

This went well.

...

Fucking not.

He groaned, rubbing his face. Trying to erase the sight of Shiro losing his mind, the fact Adam was dead, focus? Who knew?! He sure didn't! Everything was blurring together, pilling up. All the pain and frustration, just mushed together in a messy ball of _bad shit_.

Keith kept mumbling to himself, struggling to put his thoughts into place again; He needed to push it back, he needed to focus, get himself back on track, then, later, he could shove his face in the pillow and cry and scream, and after that he would be restless, then he would either go exhaust himself training, or steal a hoover bike, both for old time sake, and distraction.

Who was he kidding.

He wouldn't even find the strength to get up from bed when he started to cry.

It still felt so surreal. Adam, just gone.

 _"You're not alone in this, okay?"_ Why was he remembering this now? _"I won't stop you from running off, and blow up anything out in the desert,"_ Why did he had to remember this specific talk? _"If you want to go looking for that... Energy thing you keep on talking about, go ahead. If you want to come back, the door will be open for you, but Keith,"_ That had been the last talk they had, and he didn't remember seeing Adam so... _"Don't get too fixated in the past,"_ So damned...

 

_**"It will eat you alive."** _

Lost.

It had been just after Shiro vanished (kidnapped, taken). Keith wasn't in around when Adam first heard the news, bu by judging the state he found both the man and the apartment, it was better he had been away.

And Keith went away a month later.

He left Adam to seek out something, something he didn't even know was real. He left Adam in that small apartment, lost, grieving, and they never talked again. Back in space, he would remember how much Adam insisted that Keith never vanished completely, for him to send some message, keep him updated, at least so he could rest. At least so he could continue what Shiro couldn't. And Keith went away. The day he left, Adam told him not to make the same mistake he did, to not let grief take over; He took that a bit too far, and now it came back, all at once.

On September 14th, 2313, the news broke out that the Kerberos mission went wrong. The crew was announced dead. Keith was away when Adam lost it, he came back to a broken man, filled with regret. On October 16th, Keith told Adam about what was happening out there, the energy he felt. Adam told him to go chase it, but not to dwell on grief, like he was. One year after the launch to Kerberos, Keith left Earth, and he took with him the gnawing guilt of not saying anything to Adam for so long.

But he would comfort himself, saying that what they were doing was the right thing, and it was, and that if they succeeded, he could go back to that apartment, and no matter if the man would be foaming at the mouth in anger, they would work things out. He knew for a fact that Shiro and Adam would get back together, he saw how Adam suffered, and he heard him murmuring how much he wished for a chance to tell Takashi how much he meant; Not counting Shiro, somehow still with that ring kept hidden in his room. He didn't wear it or kept it with him in fear of losing it, but Keith knew it was there, he saw it a couple times. He was sure they would work it out.

And then they discovered the galra were attacking.

But Keith knew Adam was smart. He knew if anyone could survive, it was him.

 

And since when were things this easy?

He learned of the first defense, of Sandra's suicidal order, how Adam was in the lead of the pilots, how they didn't last more than a minute, and no one was surprised by that, why would they? Sad, sure, but no one was surprised. They had no chance. Only Shiro and Keith felt nauseated after the names of the pilots were revealed.

 _"Keith? Are you on?"_ That was Allura. Keith tried to relax his muscles. He needed to go down the Hangars, check on Hunk and Lance. The two had been searching since morning.

"Yeah, I'm going down. Are they back?"

 _"Oh, no, they aren't. But, Lance called back, he was acting weird, I didn't understand anything he said, so..."_ He rolled his eyes. Of course Lance would be acting weird. It was Lance.

"It's probably nothing. I'll be there in a minute." He pressed the button on the elevator, the other man in there looking slightly perplexed. Right, space travelling, lion pilot, leader of Voltron, Keith Kogane. Kind of a big deal, specially considering his reputation.

 _"A what?"_

"Just- I'm on my way." He groaned. This day was already feeling long, but he had a feeling, something cold in his gut, nagging at him, the same feeling he would get right before shit hit the fan. A battle, a cry for help, whatever it was.

As soon as he got down to the hangars, he heard Lance yelling something in Spanish, desperate. He frowned at the sounds. Sure, Lance had a fame of going overboard, but he never switched languages like that. Or, sounded like someone was dying. Keith picked up the pace, and as Lance grew more frantic, he decided to sprint towards the commotion. On his way there, he saw some doctors hurrying towards the lions as well. Huh, weird...

Keith stopped when he noticed there was a multitude, circling the Blue lion. There were murmurs going on, but mostly everyone kept to themselves. Determined, Keith started to push people, making his own path towards Lance, and whatever it was that was making him so desperate. When he finally made it to the front, he saw Lance, Hunk and Allura, but there was a fourth person, lying on the ground. Dirty, with the left arm covered in bandages, soaked in dry blood and plastered with sand. He was rigid, his body contorting, seizing, but sure enough, alive. Not dead, not blown up, rotting away at an jet they couldn't reach. Alive, having a seizure, with Lance desperately trying to keep his head from banging too hard, Allura in shock because she didn't know what was going on, and Hunk doing whatever he could to get the situation under control. Keith felt like he was about to make that job harder.

Later he would blame someone, later he would cry to the skies, later Keith would be frustrated, later he would be relieved. But for now, the universe was being kind towards him. Towards Shiro. But it didn't matter. Was it fate, coincidence, or just... Life, being as unpredictable as possible, it didn't matter. This day was going from zero to a hundred, really fucking fast, and his mind couldn't keep up with it. He just hurried over, stopping a few meters from the other paladins and... He had to make sure, he couldn't believe it, he didn't want to get his hopes up just to be mistaken later, but no matter what, Keith recognized him. He fell to his knees, his brain all over the place.

Adam was right in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any grammatical errors, and for any medical and/or scientific inaccuracies. Hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.


	2. Your Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk and Lance's POV of the cave encounter, and Keith reaches a conclusion, with help, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For starters, Season 8 was just an illusion, it didn't happen. Leave it behind, let it die, fuck that, I'm rewriting realities, fuck you Slav, I refuse to accept that whole thing, it's a lie. I wanted so badly to ignore everyone saying season 8 was written as "non-canon" or their books but now I understand. Now I understand.
> 
> That said, enjoy chapter 2, of the good world. The world where things are nice. The nice one, where Adam is alive, and **_not replaced by a twink two shades darker than him that didn't even have his name said once, when the easier solution would be to just let my boi Adam live for more than one minute and fourteen seconds._ ** _Can thoust tell I am angered?_

 

He held his breath, listening closely, his heart racing. The cave wasn't empty, he was sure of that now. But were they dealing with an galran soldier? A survivor? He couldn't see in the darkness. Shit, shit, fuck- Flashlight, he had to see who was there.

The first thing the light hit was the cave wall, symbols, rock. Nothing out of the norm. Or, no... No, there was something weird.

"Hunk?" He called, summoning his bayard and getting ready to shot. Hunk hurried over to his side, stopping when he saw the wall.

"Something was definitely being shot in here..." There were dents on the wall, just like the ones left by their guns. Hunk turned his flashlight on, searching around, and quickly came across a splatter of blood on the floor. "This isn't that old," The two paladins looked at each other, and Hunk was interrupted, a groan coming from somewhere deeper in the cave.

As they approached, they noticed three galran drones, broken, the pieces scattered around; They didn't look like they were shot, more like the work of some sort of blade, but it was far from a clean cut. While the two inspected the drones, they almost missed the sounds; Lance tensed when he heard the faint, weak coughing.

Coughing?

Okay, this was either a actual, flesh galran, or a human, and whoever it was, sounded half dead. And, as much as he wasn't on the whole 'happy-murder', he didn't like bringing in prisoners either, especially galra. Bigger, faster, stronger; Perfectly capable of taking them down, especially on hand-to-hand.

Still, paladin code, or whatever.

Bring whoever he found back to base. That's it. And so, he went forward, Hunk right besides him, ready to back him up.

"Who's there?" Hunk called, voice firm. He really was getting the hang of it. Lance wished he could say the same about himself. "We know someone's here, no point in hiding!" The two paladins went further in the cave, until they started to hear the ragged breathing. Well, someone was clearly in horrible shape.

"Do you think this could be a trap?" Hunk shrugged, only moving with more urgency. But, Lance knew he was right. Time to drop the act and get to it already. The two rushed over to the source of the sounds.

When they saw what, or who was making these dying sounds, the two didn't know what to do. They never had to deal with this before!

There was a man, visibly starved. He was sitting down, back against the rock. Fuck, the flashlights only made the scene all the more creepy. It also made him wonder, trying to call back something similar, but, as it was, panic didn't let him think properly.

Two things stood out for him. First, the man's clothes were plastered with dry blood, two large cuts on the fabric showed him poorly bandaged wounds, stained with red. Second, his arm; His left arm, to be specific. It was bandaged up, but it looked old already, and he could barely see any white on the bandages at this point, only dried blood and dirt.

 

_Time to fucking move, Lance!_

 

Lance rushed over to Hunk's side, not sure where he could help, but he couldn't do nothing!

"Hey, can you hear me?" Hunk tried a final time, getting ready to move the man back to the lions. He didn't answer. He didn't even react to their presence. "Alright. Lance, who's taking him back?"

"Red is faster, but I can't exactly pilot and make sure he isn't throw around." Hunk groaned, not confident in lifting the man up. What if he had broken something? Wouldn't joggle him around make things worse? Well, they didn't exactly have any other choice right now.

"We'll go back in Red, and I'll just... Call Yellow back, that worked before right?" Lance nodded, and Hunk slowly let his breath out. Time to move.

Hunk grabbed the man's right arm, carefully testing what would be best right now. To his and Lance's surprise, however, the man was able to stand on his two legs, which, fine, they looked fine, compared to the rest of him, but still weird. Someone that injured wouldn't be able to stand, at all. Adrenaline, maybe?

Regardless, as the yellow paladin started to walk back, Lance guiding the way, the man was able to limp with him; Groaning every other minute, but still walking. This was a good sign right? Maybe things just looked worse than they really were. That was a thing right?

As Lance hurried ahead of him, Hunk noticed the man was pale. As in, almost white. He didn't know if he should slow down, or go faster; Was the man about to collapse?! He wasn't a doctor, damn it! They should've called back, asked for back up. Yeah, right. What would that do, they would still need to wait for the people to arrive.

Now was too late, he decided as the sunset invaded the cave. They were almost in Red, and then it would be a quick flight back to the Garrison.

Lance helped Hunk bring the man on Red, then jumped back on the chair, and before he knew it they were going at full speed, Hunk barely keeping the man from hitting his head on the hard metal.

Alright. Now they only had to wait.

"Can you hear me?" He needed to get something out of this guy. He hadn't reacted to anything so far; Walking to were he was pulled to didn't count, did it? "Hey!" He tried again, this time waving his hand in front of the eyes. Still nothing.

"I'm calling Allura, let her know we found someone." Lance went to call back, but stopped suddenly. "I know we don't know his name, but is there anything to identify him?" Hunk shrugged, but checked the pockets first. And the man kept still as a rock, the only movement was the rise and fall of his chest, and even that would be hard to miss. But he didn't find anything in the pockets, he did have a holster attached to his belt.

"There's this gun," No magazine, and nothing on the chamber. And by the state they found the drones, it had been emptied before he reached the cave. "It's empty though... Wait, hold on," There was something engraved on it. "A. Weiss... Alright, we got a name. Maybe."

"We'll work with the theory that it was his before the Galra." Hunk agreed. He didn't listen as Lance called back, still looking at the gun. There was something written on the other side of it, bold letters, but it wasn't in English. It did pipe his curiosity, but there would be time to look into it later, once this A. Weiss was on his feet again.

 

\---

 

"C'mon bud, let's go."

Hunk went to help 'Weiss' up, but this time he couldn't get up. The man was trying, clearly doing whatever he could to push forward, but it only ended with him back on his own ass. Lance then decided to help them, grabbing the other arm and helping keep Weiss upright; At least now he was standing on his own legs, still wobbly though.

The two paladins slowly started to move him out of the Red lion, each step they took made Weiss stop to regain his balance. Allura had already informed them a medical team was on their way, which made the both of them sigh in relief as they took their final steps out of Red.

And then the man went rigid, still as a rock, and right after he started to jerk violently, almost making them drop him. The paladins were able to lower him without issue though, and while Lance stayed by his head, making sure he wouldn't smash his skull open with how much he was thrashing, Hunk went over to Allura, seeing she was shocked by what was happening. Silently counting the seconds.

 

1, 2, 3, 4...

A crowd was gathering around, possibly heard they found someone and were here to help, but right now it was the last thing they needed. Also, not-so fun fact, apparently Alteans didn't have seizures, judging by how panicked Allura sounded.

 

20, 21, 22, 23....

Hunk noticed someone rushing forward, pushing people out of the way; Red, that was Keith. He froze once he saw them.

 

55, 56, 57, 58...

Keith had knelt down right in front of Lance and the man, his eyes were wide and he looked just as lost as Allura, if not more. He muttered something.

 

84, 85, 86, 87...

Shouldn't it have stopped by now? Were seizures supposed to take this long? What was the time they should start to panic? A minute? He couldn't remember. Just.. Keep counting, keep people away, keep Allura calm. Things will work out.

 

97, 98, 99, 100...

The medical team was here, and both Lance and Keith moved away, letting them do their job; It would be better now, but Weiss was still convulsing violently on the ground, his back arched and he kicked, then slammed his head on the ground hard. Three times before the change in position.

 

149, 150, 151.... 178, 179, 180.... 213, 214, 215...

It continued like that for three minutes, almost four, before he had a last spasm and went still. Then, the medical team started to move, one was calling over for a stretcher, visibly pissed off, another one was monitoring the man, and the third was walking over to them. Wait, no, he was supposed to say something? How long it lasted?

"Uh.. I- Three, four minutes? A-almost four, yeah, that was it." The medic nodded and thanked him, and went back to help place the man on the stretcher. Once they had him secured, it was straight to the medical wing, leaving a crowd and three paladins to wonder what would come next. Now, for the next problem...

"Did you know him?!" Lance exclaimed, getting on Keith's face. Hunk couldn't say he didn't want to scream too. Keith took his gaze away from the doors the medics went through, his gaze flicking between Allura, Hunk and Lance.

"Yes, I do... But," His gaze fell, a frown on his face. "He... He was- They said he died. Adam was in the memorial and everything. And now-" _Now how am I supposed to tell Shiro he isn't dead? What if something happen?!_ "Now he's back..." Allura was the first to move, placing a hand on his shoulder in solidarity.

"It'll be fine Keith, the doctors are already working with him." She stopped, then turned to Lance and Hunk. "It will be, right? He was... Having spasms, looked painful... And very bad..." She brought both her hands to her chest, now worrying if the man, Adam, would really be fine.

"He had a seizure- It could be painful, especially with how hard he was hitting his head, and how violent it was, but he'll be fine. Just, lasted longer than they're supposed to, but I don't think it was, you know... The worst." Hunk explained. Allura visibly relaxed on hearing that, even if the scene was bad.

"... I guess you're right, but still... He was in bad shape," Keith started to walk away from the hangar. He needed to sit down before he was the one being rushed over to the med wing. "Where did you two find him, anyway?" Later he would freak out. Later. Later. Later. Not now. Not here. Definitely not in front of the people he had to lead.

"About that," Lance started, trying to sound less miserable, even after that experience. "He was in the back of the Blue lion's cave. There were three drones around, broken. And, on the outside, we found a piece of a ship, from the Garrison."

"Well, personally, I doubt it was his. He couldn't have lived out there, on that cave, for so long." Hunk interrupted. "My theory is that he got blasted, went to the city, and came back, for whatever reason." Keith sat down on the bench, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. This was good, but oh so damn draining. Adam was alive, and that information alone was a lot. Adam was alive and badly hurt. Now that was draining.

"Doesn't matter right now. He'll tell us what happened. Once he wakes up." The four of them agreed, and, one by one, they slowly dispersed, each in a different direction.

Except Lance. He stayed.

 

\---

 

At night, all that Keith could think about was Adam. All in his mind was the sickening sounds from when he was having that seizure, the sight of the bloodied bandages, the dirt sticking to him; Imagine how bad were his wounds, covered with the same bandages for so long, and left untreated. Fuck, for how long exactly was he on his own? On that cave, isolated and with his life on the line?! Was he fighting with those wounds?! Of course he didn't have a say, but still, it brought back memories.

He remembered once, when he had dislocated his wrist, then picked a fight with a student. Shiro had been busy that day, and Adam came to pick him up. He went on for ten full minutes, something that Keith later named 'How to Not Loose Like a Pussy, by Adam Weiss': Step one, don't go around fighting when sick, injured, or otherwise in disadvantage compared to your opponent. Oooh, he would be using that one against him when Adam woke up.

He let out a weak laugh, and his Wolf perked up at it. Seeing him, Keith had another thought come to mind:

How, and when to tell Shiro that Adam was alive?

'Hey, Lance and Hunk found your ex-fiancee on the desert, he's in the med wing now.' 'Remember the ex-fiancee you were mourning until this afternoon? Well he's alive.' 'Change of plans, Adam lived.'

Also, tell him right now, and run the risk of Adam (of course this wasn't happening, but was a possibility and he had to count it in).... dying.... and then Shiro would just have his heart destroyed a second time, or not tell him, and wait until Adam was already one hundred percent fine. On one hand, he couldn't betray Shiro's trust like that, he needed to tell him. On the other hand, telling him meant risking breaking him further, and Keith absolutely despised the thought of his (kind-of) brother suffering like that.

The Wolf nosed his hand, trying to push it on his head, urging Keith to pet him. He slowly carded his fingers in the thick, soft mane, weighting his options. Tell, or not? When to do it? Right now?

"This is giving me a headache..." He got up. A walk would make his thoughts clearer. He opened the door, and started to walk, aimlessly. Stalking in the shadows, were no one would bother to look. 

 

\---

 

Everything was dark, as it was past midnight already. Keith preferred it that way. He wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, and walking around would help him clear his mind a bit, maybe something in the darkness would, ironically, enlighten him on the situation at hand; If anything, only looking out towards the stars would be enough comfort. It reminded him of the Castle of Lions, and sometimes even the Blade of Marmora. It was funny, really. In the Castle, he would be the only one on those past-midnight-walks, but on the BoM quarters, he was the only one sleeping, while everyone else was walking about, pretending the other members weren't there, and with Kolivan turning a blind eye to the situation. Mostly, because he too would wander around, for no reason. Well, that was his excuse, anyway.

And he was about to hear it again.

The large galra was standing before a window, his focus entirely on the stars above. Keith wouldn't dare to voice it in a million years, but his guess was that Kolivan missed something up there, longing for something he couldn't reach. Keith couldn't relate, what tied him to Earth was... Well, back. Everyone he cared about was here. His team, his friends, his family, the people he grew up with. Still, he wasn't about to ignore Kolivan completely.

"You are terrible at stalking, Keith." The galra turned to him, unimpressed. "Hopefully, you will never depend on that." Keith rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. He knew it was only a joke, just teasing.

"Let me guess, you are about to say 'can't sleep'." How cliche. Everyone said that, in every movie and book, ever. Adam once found him wandering about and threatened to tie him outside if he said it, 'I don't care if it's true, find another way to say it then!'

"Still better off than you," He snorted, looking back outside. "Is something wrong?" Keith sighed. He wouldn't say wrong, more like completely upside down and definitely not in a bad way.

"No, it's just... Something came up," He started to pace, not sure if spilling the whole truth was a good idea. Well, this was Kolivan, he trusted him. Might as well tell him everything, he might be able to help him. "Someone... Adam, he was... They said he died, but they never recovered the body... Hunk and Lance found him, and brought him back,"

"That's... The opposite of a problem. Are you anxious about seeing him again?" The galra uncrossed his arms, looking at Keith. Now he was interested.

"No- I mean, yes, I am! But- He was- Shiro and him..." He tried to hold back their relationship. It wasn't that he felt Kolivan would find it weird, it was just not his place to be spreading it around, especially after they broke up. "They were close, but Shiro doesn't know he's alive. And I don't know how to tell him. Especially without being a dick about it. Besides, Adam is in a pretty bad shape... What if he-" Keith sat down, his wolf nosing his hand to be petted again. Just thinking about it was making him nauseous, so he bit down. Holding everything back.

"..." Kolivan sat besides him, looking forward. "I don't really understand much of human culture, but if it were me, I would tell Shiro as soon as possible." Keith looked at him, waiting for further explanation. "He deserves to know the truth, does he not?"

"... Yeah... Yeah he does..." Keith got up, a small smile on his face. "You're right. I don't even know why I was debating on that." Kolivan huffed out a laugh, something that Keith would one hundred percent use against him later, but right now he was thankful.

"You said it yourself. You don't want to make your friend miserable." The older man got up, placing his clawed hand on Keith's shoulder. "But don't worry. He is stabilized now. Still unconscious, but he'll recover."

"Wait what? How do you know?!" Kolivan's ears dropped, and he frowned.

"There is a possibility... That I saw what happened earlier. And somehow I ended up around the medical wing. And some medics were talking about it." He straightened his back, a part of his demeanor daring Keith to question his actions.

He wouldn't. Keith have a bigger smile, thanked the older man, and left. He was fine now, there was no need to stay awake for the night; So he made his way back to his room. His Wolf right besides him, and the image of his small family, before all of this, before space, before Voltron, was finally on it's way to become reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'ALL INTERESTED IN SUM UHHHHH-
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _**adashi reunion**_


	3. Sinking Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro took a deep breath through his mouth.
> 
> He'd been crying for a while now. He felt like shit, the way his head was pounding, how much his throat burned, and at some point even his stomach started to hurt. All this pain, and yet it was nothing compared to what really hurt. His loss almost numbed his body to the pain. Almost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title is not only the song, but a pun. Our space dad has jelly legs the entire chapter.

 

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

Shiro took a deep breath through his mouth.

He'd been crying for a while now. He felt like shit, the way his head was pounding, how much his throat burned, and at some point even his stomach started to hurt. All this pain, and yet it was nothing compared to what really hurt. His loss almost numbed his body to the pain. Almost. Because it would be too easy to feel only one type of pain.

He turned his head with a quiet groan, barely lifting his chin from the counter, still deciding if he really wanted to get up. He saw the picture first, and his heart ached. It was a vicious cycle, no matter where he went in the house, no matter where he went in the Garrison, it always repeated. No matter where he looked. Everything was Shiro and Him.

He remembered the day they took that picture.

He was paired with Him, as always, the best pilots around. They had just broken the Airspeed Record, Shiro piloting, and Him as his Co-pilot. Someone was asking for a picture of the two.

He remembered climbing down the ship, both excited and nervous. He jogged over to the people who were around to make it official, a huge smile on his lips. Then, He came down, running over and jumping Shiro, messing with his hair. The two were too excited to keep on a professional attitude. Someone had come forward, asking them to pose for a commemorative picture, and Shiro went rigid, dropping his arms. He, however, laughed and put his right hand on his hips, threw his left arm over Shiro's shoulder and made the peace sign, still smiling. Oh yeah, he had to smile too.

_Click!_

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

It took a while before he could tear his eyes from the photo. This time he looked a bit up. And the cycle started again.

He gave that to Shiro on his birthday. They had returned from Titania, a few weeks ago. Shiro had been in ecstasy when they landed, barely paying attention. They spent a whole year in space, and he loved every second of it.

Once they returned, Shiro went to his own room, still looking at the pictures, the recordings, everything, reminiscing the time up there, how good it felt, how he proved that he was capable.

Then He walked in, holding something behind His back.

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

Shiro was already rambling about the mission, even if He had been there as well. He just listened, smiling. Then He sat down, and gave Shiro what He was holding. It was wrapped up in rough papper, black. The ribbon was a faded orange, and not really a ribbon, to be fair. On the top, a white piece of papper, with a spaceship drawn on it. On the ribbon-but-not-really, there was a tag, with something written on it.

_'Feliz Aniversário, meu dengo'_

There was a heart next to it.

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

Shiro looked at Him, two thirds in love and one third confused. He only smiled back, smug. Then moved his hand, prompting Shiro to open it already, He was getting anxious from the suspense.

Shiro had laughed at that, then rolled his eyes. He put the tag away first, it was cute and he wanted to keep it. Then came the kind-of-a-ribbon. He was ready to smack Shiro for taking so long with it, it was just paper for goodness sake! But Shiro didn't want to ruin the drawing. At those words, He fell back on the bed, hands covering his face and a loud groan.

_He would miss those so much..._

When he was done unwrapping his gift, he found a box, with a card on top of it. It was His handwriting.

  
_Happy Birthday, Kashi!_  
  
_These last months have been something, huh?_  
  
_You know, being the first man to step on Titania,  
_ _The usual,_

Shiro had laughed, stealing a look His way. He only smiled back, rolling his eyes.

  
_Now you're old as fuck :)_  
  
_Joking, I still love you ;*.  
_

  
_I hope you like this gift,_  
  
_It's kinda dumb, since you saw the real thing,_  
  
_But hey, something like that needs to be remembered, right?  
_

_\- A. Weiss_

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

It was the SSG Serenity, the ship they went to Titania on. It was heavy, around 40 centimeters, and super detailed, to the point he could see even the screws. The painting couldn't have been more realistic, even the faded part from the accident during the inspections prior to the launch was there. He could only imagine for how long He looked for it, and how expansive this was

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

_"Oh my God... This is incredible... How did you even find this?!"_

__

__

_"The mafia."_ Oh God, he would miss that laugh so fucking much... _"Ain't telling my sources,"_

__

__

Shiro kissed Him. Deeply, shutting that snarky mouth for at least fifteen seconds. After stealing His breath, Shiro started to walk around the house, putting his gift on every surface, then taking it back to find a better place for it. All the while, He was following Shiro, smiling like nothing else mattered.

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

He closed his eyes. He couldn't look anymore, he couldn't look at anything anymore. He needed a break.

This wasn't right. This wasn't supposed to happen, this wasn't how it should go. Everything felt wrong, everything brought up memories.

He looked at the couch, and remembered watching a silly movie, curled up by His side. He looked at the kitchen and remembered Him making breakfast while Shiro stood back. He looked at the hall and remembered giving Him a kiss on the cheek. He looked at the table and remembered eating dinner together. He looked at the window and remembered watching the rain with Him. He looked at door and remembered coming home.

Home?

This wasn't "home" anymore.

This place was haunting him with memories he couldn't escape -Deep down, he didn't want to. But not like this,

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

Shiro couldn't bring himself to leave; It was all he had left of Him.

He started to cry again. Cry from the pain in his chest, the agony of never seeing Him again, the loneliness, the haunting memories, the words he would never say, the everything; Because it didn't matter what Shiro felt for Him anymore. He was gone.

_Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, **Tok Tok Tok** Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik, Tik,_

Shiro lifted his head again, but didn't look up. He couldn't bear to be hit with memories again, it hurt too much. His sleeves were soaked in tears by now. He slowly let out his breath, holding himself together with the last string of control, closing his eyes. Someone was at the door, and he needed to answer.

"Shiro? I- Fuck it, You really need to come out, right now." Keith? But he had been here a few- Oh... The clock wasn't marking 2300 anymore. It was marking 0600. He spent the whole night in the counter. Well, he knew he slept at some point. Or, at least passed out. Before waking up to this ugly, distorted reality. He didn't want to see anyone. "Shiro! If you don't open this door, right now, I am going to open it!"

"I'm coming! Just!- Just give me a minute..." He sighed, rubbing his hands on his eyes. Shiro looked around. Nothing was out of place, except for him. He shook his head. He couldn't open the door looking like this.

First, he took his jacket off and left it on the stool besides him. Next, he walked to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, grabbed the towel and dried off, sighing as he lowered it. When he saw his reflection, he winced. His face was all puffy and red, there was no way of hiding his 5+ hour crying marathon.

Time to face the ~~rotten~~ world.

"Finally, what took you so long?! Forget it, you need to come to the med wing, right now!" Before Shiro could even react, or come up with an excuse, Keith was already at the elevator, leaving no options. Shiro suppressed a groan, not willing to prance about with this face. Actually, he would rather wallow in his own misery.

"What happened?" Shiro kept his head low, trying to maintain as much of the strong persona as possible. When he noticed Keith trying to look at his face he slightly turned to the side. So Keith let go of it, preferring to stare ahead of them.

"Hunk and Lance found something- Well, someone," He tilted his head, this time looking scared, kind of lost. "... But I feel like talking won't be any good, so I'm dragging you there." He leaned back, arms hanging by his sides, and gave a dry laugh. "Hell, I freaked out and couldn't believe it when I saw him..."

"Keith, look, I'm really not up for anything right now, okay? Just- Tell me what happened, and I'll deal with it. Later," Keith frowned, pushing himself forward.

"Not an option, and even if it was," He gritted his teeth, looking back. "I'm not letting you go back in there." _Back in that apartment, or back in that pit?_

He didn't say anything else, just let Keith lead the way.

 

\---

 

"Okay, so... First, don't freak out. Second, he's still unconscious, but the doctors said he's out of the danger zone. And thi-"

"Lance?" Shiro had to ignore Keith for a second. It was really Lance, sitting on the chair in front of the hospital room. He had bags under his eyes, and looked pretty shaken up. "What happened?" He looked at Shiro, then back to his lap, holding his own hands tighter.

"I just... Felt- Like I should stay?... I was worried... And uh, I also have some of his stuff so..." Shiro frowned, looking back at Keith with confusion all over him.

"What happened yesterday?" Keith opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again. He looked around exasperated, and finally dropped his shoulders in defeat.

"Just... Go in, okay? I'm still processing it myself..." He grabbed another chair, and sat down besides Lance, finding the floor so much more interesting. Now Shiro felt a cold sweat run down his spine.

It was clear that neither of them were in the right mind, so Shiro sighed and turned to the door. He sighed, tired of the whole ordeal and went in without ceremony. It wasn't worth it, anyway. Just, everything to get out of that state, right? He silently closed the door, noticing how the lights were dimmed down. When he turned, two things happened.

One, Shiro felt his world being crumbled and rebuild in one swift motion, giving him whiplash.

Two, he started to hyperventilate.

The person in the bed looked so much like Him it hurt. There were bandages covering half his face, so Shiro couldn't be one hundred percent sure, but everything else made him hope. The skin, the hair, what he could see of the face- It was all Him.

Shiro held himself in place, holding back tears. He had just been crying for _five hours_ , but now?...

His limbs felt like paper, barely able to hold him in place, and there was nowhere for him to sit and get the fog out of his head because this was impossible. He leaned on the door, trying to catch his breath. _Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic-_

He was somehow able to look away, and found the medical file. He reached for it with his robotic arm, not trusting himself to walk over and grab it. Fuck, he couldn't read while crying, it was too blurry. Shiro quickly wiped the tears but his vision was still blurry. He pressed his hand against his eyes, taking deep breaths. In, and out. In, and out. He just needed to see the name, that was all.

In, and out. In, and out. Patience yields focus. Just-

_**Adam Weiss** _

It was Him. It was really Him. It was Adam! It was his Adam!!

Shiro fell with a strangled gasp, everything in the room was spinning. He felt cold on his back and too hot on his chest, burning him from the the inside out. It was like being hit while wearing his armor, not much physical pain, but the pressure was still there, the sound too, so he always felt every hit, it always made his heart stop, questioning if that was it, the end; And the relief that washed over, signaling that no, that was not the end.

And as he looked at the body on the bed, almost completely still, the same relief came crashing down. It ripped the air from his lungs and blinded him, darkness only so slightly leaving a breach. The ringing in his ears was loud, but he still heard the heart monitor in the background, assuring him that _yes, Adam is here. Adam is alive._

He held his breath, slowly letting it out. Shiro brought his legs back, forcing himself to stand up and move, because he was not going to waste any more time. When he got up, Shiro felt his legs shaking under him, and leaned on the door.

Okay. Okay. This is okay.

It didn't last long this time, so he took careful steps towards the bed. His mind still felt foggy, and he couldn't quite accept this was real. More like a dream, one he would happily drown in without even questioning it.

But this was no dream, this was real. This was real, and Adam lived, he was right in front of Shiro. He was skin and bones, his hair was longer and dirty, his skin still had some blood clinging on. But he was here. He was right in front of Shiro, chest slowly rising as he breathed.

Shiro cracked a smile, the burn behind his eyes turned into a fresh new wave of tears. The small smile grew, and before he knew it, Shiro was kneeling besides the bed, sobbing uncontrollably, his chest heaving as the pain wrecked through his body. But this pain he welcomed with wide open arms.

_"I promise, if you let me, I'll fix everything, no matter what it takes."_

 

\---

 

"What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing. About you, and about Shiro." Lance retorted, staring down at his lap. He had his jacket on his hands, back curved, bags under his eyes...

"You spend the night here, didn't you?" Lance rolled his eyes. Seems like sleeping in a plastic chair is not good for the mood. The red paladin's face morphed from mildly annoyed to defeated, and he nodded, slowly. Keith almost missed it. He sighed and sat down next to Lance. "Spit it out."

"Wow, what a way with words..." He laughed, dry. Still tired, then. "I got... Worried, about him... Kind of felt responsible, you know? I mean, Me and Hunk brought him here, and... It didn't feel right- To just forget about him after that... So I stayed the night." Lance looked at Keith, who was staring at Lance with a mix of gratitude and surprise. Lance snickered, and bumped their shoulders, getting Keith out of his weird trance. "Now you. And, Shiro too."

"..." He took a long breath, turning his gaze elsewhere. "You know I lived with Shiro for a while, right?" Lance nodded, turning so he could look at Keith better. "And... Adam was there too. Shiro got me in the Garrison programs, and everything, like believing in myself, and not giving up, and all that..." He paused, observing Lance's reaction. So far, he just looked curious. "And Adam... Well, he was some type of mom-friend."

"He had a brutal, kind of cold way, of making sure that I wouldn't show up dead somewhere. And that I would pass my classes, too. We had a dynamic, the three of us. Shiro made sure we wouldn't throw everything out of the window, because two pessimists together can't be good. And Adam would make we functioned- Drink some water, eat something, have at least eight hours of sleep. I guess I was the one thing they couldn't predict, the excitement, you could say." Lance visibly relaxed, so Keith continued. "To be fair, Shiro would be dead if it wasn't for Adam."

"Dude," Lance still looked at him in disbelief. "Are you serious?" Keith nodded, trying to look as serious and as solemn as possible. "You have to tell me more,"

"For starters, Shiro couldn't go to sleep or wake up at decent times, so that fell on Adam, even thought he would spend the entire night grading papers, and skip sleep entirely." Lance snickered. The great Shiro, who always preached about their health, just ignoring his? "He was also banned from the kitchen. In Adam's words, 'If you ever need to live out of Takashi's food, I hope you like grasshoppers'" When Keith looked at Lance, he couldn't help but laugh. He didn't think a person's eyes could get so big.

"Damn, reminds me of my aunt," He folded his jacket better. "We kind of banned her from the kitchen too..." He made a face, but still smiled. Keith smiled back, grabbing Lance's shoulder. At least he got Lance to relax a bit. "So, they lived together. But what, they were just roommates? Doesn't look like it." Keith tensed at this. He didn't feel like it was his place to talk about the relationship between Adam and Shiro. "No need to answer,"

"One was or another you'll figure it out, so yeah, they were a thing." He sighed, taking his jacket off. When he looked back at Lance, the red paladin had his mouth wide open, but quickly disguised it by fake coughing and looking everywhere but at Keith.

"Oh, okay, that's," He coughed again. "That's cool. It's uh, it's nice then. Alright,"

After that, they fell silent, waiting for Shiro to come out, or for a doctor to show up. Lance felt his phone buzzing again and again, but he didn't care to look at it. He was focused. Adam was important to Shiro, and to Keith too. Not only that, Lance found him. He felt like he was partially responsible in some way. Besides, he was pretty curious to know what happened. He didn't know exactly why, but he wanted to talk to Adam. It was just something he felt he needed to do.

Keith started to fidget in his seat. And finally took his phone out, looking at the messages. He groaned, sitting up. He looked at his phone, then at the door. Shiro was still inside, no sign of him coming out. Keith asked him to tell Shiro he had to leave, something came up. Lance just waved him off, he didn't plan on leaving this spot anytime soon.

 

\---

 

After what felt like an eternity, a doctor finally showed up at Adam's door. Lance shot himself up, right at the man's face, asking everything that he could think of about the man's health. The doctor pushed him back a bit; And Lance quickly realized this was one of _those_ doctors. The asshole type, the ones who barely look at you, and would be unnecessarily blunt about the most delicate of situations.

"He's going to live." He started, bringing his clipboard to eye level. "Malnourished, severely dehydrated, several lacerations, some damage to his eyes,and we don't know if we can save his arm until he wakes up, but he'll live." Lance deflated at that. Didn't sound good at all, but he knew deep down that it would be fine. Still, the man talked as if it meant absolutely nothing. "Look kid," He spat, walking past Lance. "Let me remind you that considering the state you found him in, it's a miracle he's still alive, let alone without any infections." Lance slowly nodded, gripping his jacket tighter.

"Uh, another thing," He sat down again, not feeling too eager to talk to this doctor again. "Shir- Erhm, Captain Shirogane, is in there- Just a heads up." The doctor nodded, but Lance could see just how annoyed he looked.

The doctor turned his back to Lance and entered the room; Lance could see Shiro kneeling besides the bed on that fraction of time, and he cringed, already knowing how this doctor would kick Shiro out. Poor guy, he'd been bad for a long time, and when he's finally reunited with Adam, some douche of a doctor is about to kick him out.

Said and done, now Shiro was standing in front of Lance, as lost as a baby duck. Lance sighed, motioning for Shiro to sit down besides him. The older man looked at him, then at the door, and finally sighed, shaking his head as he took the seat. Shiro almost immediately put his head on his hands, hiding his face from the world. Alright Lance, time to comfort him.

"The doctor said he'll be fine." Shiro murmured between his palms. "But I saw how he is. That isn't _fine_ , that is far from 'fine'..."

"I mean, the doc said he'll live, and he looks tough enough to get through it." Lance noted, shifting on his seat; He saw Shiro peeking from his palms, before dropping his hands and sitting straight.

"He's the professional, I should trust him," Nothing but a whisper. Lance sighed, scratching his neck. "But you're right," He cracked the weakest smile Lance had ever seen. He could see how miserable Shiro was. "Adam will get through this. I mean, miss the opportunity to yell 'I told you so', in my face?" Lance rubbed his back, smiling in a comforting manner.

"We're talking about THE Takashi Shirogane. You know, Record Breaker, First Pilot To Kerberos, Black Paladin, Came Back From the Dead, Atlas Pilot," Shiro chuckled, a sad, weak sound, but he was less tense now. "Who would miss the chance to yell 'I told you so' in your face?"

"Definitely not Adam." He laughed. Shiro straightened his back, crossing his arms. Lance wanted to tell him to go back, take some time to process everything, eat, try to sleep,

But he knew Shiro wouldn't do that. No, the man would wave him off, and besides, Lance would be hypocrite. He also didn't want to leave just yet. On the other hand, if he didn't leave to eat and drink any time soon, the medbay staff would have another patient on their hands.

He let out a long, loud groan, slumping in the chair. Lance hopped up, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm gonna grab some water, maybe a snack. Any specifics or just whatever?" Shiro blinked at him, then shook his head. "I'll get Hunk to guilt trip you into eating." Shiro looked up, half shocked, but his resolve crumbled fast.

"Fine... Anything, really." Lance grinned, a slight hop to his step. Shiro appreciated Lance. As a paladin, and as a friend. The boy had a golden heart. Although, he had his own issues, something he refused to talk about. "Thank you."

As soon as Lance left, Shiro went back to his own mind. Adam was alive. He was alive, and hurt, and definitely went through hell and back, maybe more than once. The doctor said something about his arm, how they weren't sure if they could save it, but that was the worst. But now, to slightly more pressing matters, the doctor also said that Adam would wake up at any moment now, and now Shiro didn't know what to say. Sure, the apology, explain what went through his mind back before Kerberos, and just talk about where they stood, if Adam would be willing to give him another chance, and all of that, but there was something nagging at him.

How does one explain the scars, one of which spanned across his face, the floating arm, his second prosthetic, or maybe his white hair, result from dying and being yanked back to life?

...

Maybe just explaining on the go wouldn't be so bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to include the reunion, but it got kind of out of hand, and I decided to change it up a bit. So yeah, an actual reunion will be saved for chapter 4, which will be focused on our beautiful baby boi.
> 
> Also, remember how I said I would re-write season 8? Well, I think I've figured out a way to make it work out, but It'll have to be divided in two-three works.


	4. What Remains

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pls, PLS, let me know of any mistakes im barely awake rn

It's always easier to deal with something you've already experienced. Loss, for example. Of course, it's easier only because you already know how shitty it's going to be. You're not walking blind on the path of grief. It still hurts a lot. Another example, when someone says something hurtful. The first time, everything is shattering; Second time, it's like suffocating; By the fifth time they say the same thing, it's just a little tingle. Hurts, but you're already used to it. Why talk about how familiarity dissolves reaction? Point in case,

Adam was familiar with excruciating pain. He'd been run over twice, once by a motorcycle and another time by a car; He broke him arm, leaving exposed bones; He crashed on a bus, sending him flying straight to a wall; He was attacked by a dog, a belgian malinois; He was stabbed on the shoulder, would've been the head; He was beaten, until he almost died; He was shot, more times than he could count. All of that before even joining the Garrison.

But, from all times he was shot, beaten, broke something, ran over and whatever else,

This, right here, easily surpassed all of it.

He couldn't see, but he could _feel_ everything. And it would take a while to list everything that hurt. For starters, his eyes. You know when you get soap in your eyes? Yeah, that, but make it sharper, and add pepper spray in, and maybe you can get a feel of that pain. Then his temple. God, it was like that one time he crashed his motorcycle on a car in the avenue, without a helmet on. Scary shit. And also, extremely painful position to fall, smacking his head on the post. Next, he would list the gash on the back of his head, really stinging, but it was nothing compared to his shoulder. Well, his entire left arm, to be precise.

He remembered that it got like this a little before he got separated from his group. They got attacked and one of the galran droids shot his arm. Noted, lasers can hit your entire arm, and they _burned_. Now, he couldn't quite decide what hurt more,

Broken bones, or lasers burning it? One peeled his skin off, the other introduced him to his ulna and radius. Hello bones, get the heck back inside where you belong. Yeah, maybe one could hurt more than the other, but the memory of seeing two bones out of his arm, which was bend on a 60° angle was slightly more frightening than burns.

The two cuts on his abdomen weren't even close to the bullet he took. But they did sting a lot, and he couldn't quite pinpoint which one of the two cuts hurt the most. How did he get these? Well, after the tunnels collapsed, he had to escape somehow, and the only way out of there was through a crack in the asphalt, and was greeted by the broken rebar, ripping his flesh. He never had time to dress the wound properly, only grabbing a shirt and tying it around his torso.

All in all, he was in terrible pain, but-

Wait, he wasn't alone.

No someone was here.

What happened?

He remembered being in that cave, sitting down and waiting for his inevitable death, when someone came to him. It was a man, dressed in something from the medieval era, with a long, red cloth wrapped around his middle, ending in dust. The man was tall, much, much taller than anyone Adam had ever seen, and he looked him straight in the eyes, and it was the most pitiful look.

And then suddenly, the man had grinned, muttering something to Adam, 'The witch travels the same path as the priest', when suddenly, darkness engulfed them both.

Then, everything he saw became blurry, and not from this world.

First, he saw a small cabin in the woods, alien vegetation wrapping around the cabin like art, while the rest of the forest was quiet, the dense, beautiful foliage out of this world. He could hear someone talking to him, but they sounded muffled, and so far away... He tried to move his head but it was like he was seeing through someone's else eyes. And now he felt his head being turned, until his gaze met that of someone else.

_Those eyes were wrong. Disturbing and mangled._

Before he could burn the image on his brain, he was shoved back in his own world, and everything _hurt_ , and then he was going rigid, and he heard people gasping, but why were they here? _How_ where people here? What about the aliens?! Shit, he had to move, he had to get up-

Then he could see, blurry shapes, some mingling together, just blobs of color. But he saw it, he saw the kid, and it was all in slow motion. He was pushing people away, then ran over to his side, eyes wide is disbelief, a hint of fear making it's way through. He knelt down besides Adam, and until that moment, he waved it off as hallucinations; There was no way the kid was here, Adam was only seeing someone he wanted to see. But Keith was here, Adam heard his voice, he saw his face. It had to be him.

"Adam?...."

\---

When he woke up, the pain had subdued, it was only an inconvenience. He couldn't see, but felt something wrapped around his head, so that was a reason. His body still felt weakened, and he was terribly tired, but he couldn't recall exactly how he went from moribund to 'slightly uncomfortable'.

He could barely recall what happened between the collapse and reaching the cave, but he guessed it involved squaring up against a coyote. The coyote won with just a bark. So Adam took a detour and ended up in the cave. When he first entered, he guessed the symbols were either an archaeological find (less likely) or drunk teenagers carving on rock (the theory he went with).

And before that?

Hm...

The colapse. The old man throwing his knife to Adam, and _tackling_ the nearest sentry. Then, everything started to fall.

He left the tunnels by an opening on the asphalt, had to climb up some debris, but it had two bars sticking out, which got him two cuts on his stomach. It worked out in the end, Adam found something to tie around his wounds, at least until he found his way.

Once he saw the commotion on the city, Adam decided to head back to the desert, maybe even find the ruins of the Garrison if he was lucky. I mean, how would the Garrison be still up with Sanda and _Iverson_ on command? Absurd. Sanda probably waved the white flag, if Iverson hadn't done something stupid. Like trying to launch the Atlas.

Come to think of it, Adam would gladly be caught just to throw hands with Iverson without repercurssions.

Regardless, he remembered until then, what else?

The desert, of course, and everything that went on in the cave, and then-

"Ke... fh..." His voice sounded like shit. Raspy and barely audible. But his mind was running wild. He heard Keith, he saw him too. "umph..." His head was throbbing though. What happened to him? Adam shifted, sitting up despite the protests of pain. Yep, he still couldn't see. Genius thinking. What, time to rip off everything connected to his body and walk around like an idiot? Tempting, but his mind was still foggy. "...Keith?..." He tried again, this time able to talk without his tongue working against him.

"Mr. Weiss?" His head snapped in the direction of the voice, making him dizzy. Okay, no sudden movements, gotcha. He heard a door, opening and closing. Then heels clicking on the floor. Didn't sound like concrete, so that meant, a building? But how? Most were destroyed, and he could say from experience, not great if a quick escape is needed, everyone knew that by now. Now that he thought about it, what's with the beeping? "I'm glad you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Feeling great," He grunted, bringing his hand to his temple. Bandaged up. Of course. "What happen'd?" He laid down again, feeling a tad too weak to move around. 

"You were found in a cave," He hummed. Yeah, he remembered that, and also Keith. He remembered the kid, but he looked different, somehow. "The paladins brought you back to the Garrison, though." He heard the heels clicking again, approaching him. "Do you remember anything?"

"Uh... No? Just- Wait, you said-" In his haste to get back up, he pressed against one of his wounds, making him wince. "Paladins? The Garrison? What's going on?" He remembered Sam sneaking off to tell him that, unfortunately, they couldn't reach Voltron, they were gone. Adam felt his chest tighten, and he sat up suddenly, but felt something tugging at him. Feeding tubes? Vials? Who the heck knows! "Wait- You need- Where is-"

"Mr. Weiss, you need to calm down." He felt her hand on his shoulder, holding him down. "The war's over. The Galra are gone. It's all over," He slowly let out a shaky breath, digesting this new information.

It's over.

No more war. No more blood, no more screaming, no more panicking, no more open wounds, no more people dying from the simplest things. And how much had he seen? Someone being shot in the head, another guy lost his leg and died from blood loss, one woman fell down the building, another was washed away, a man got captured, and during the winter, the cold slowly plucked lives. It started with a sick teen, then moved to an old lady, and it didn't take long to take some kids too.

For how long exactly had he wished for this day?

His mind was still wired on fight or flight, stay low, don't make a sound, underground is safer, don't use guns (loud and messy), don't stay in the same place too long, everything can be a weapon, keep your eyes peeled, every sound could be danger- And how much freaking more, he was basically a walking survival guide at this point...

He really didn't want to have to put this acquired knowledge to use anytime soon.

No, he shouldn't be focusing on that now, right?

"Yo-" Adam cleared his throat. It was so dry, felt like he had swallowed sand. Well, no water, living in a desert for quite some time. "You know where the paladins are, right now?"

"Oh! I almost forgot, Keith Kogane-" _Keith_ , puta merda, Keith was _alive_ , he was _back_! "And Captain Takashi Shirogane, have been waiting for you to wake up." _Takashi_. He heard the beeping getting louder and quicker. Great, something to betray exactly how he was feeling right now. "Should I not let them in?" Also great. Adam's throat convulsed once, twice, before he managed to get the words out.

"N-no... Just... I just need a minute..." He took deep breaths, slowly. Very. VERY. Slowly. He could _feel_ his heart pumping, could hear his blood on his ears.

Keith is alive. _Takashi_ is alive. And Adam? About to cross over, thank you very much.

Sure, Sam warned him, but they never got any contact; The only explanation: They died. And yet, here he was. Being told that, nope, his kind-of-illegally-adopted-child, and kind-of-an-ex-but-not-really-because-they-never-officially-broke-up-but-it's-been-years-so-who-knows, are both alive.

Crap, what was he supposed to do? Okay, make sure Keith gets an earful, as natural. The kid got expelled, after Adam _talked_ with _Iverson_ for him to stay, then vanished out of the map, without a warning. Fine, Adam gave him the go-ahead to follow his gut, but he didn't mean for Keith to simply poof out of his life; Would it kill the kid to send a text? To keep his phone, to give a sign of life, maybe a 'hey, still alive'?! Adam knew for a fact Keith was still around, he was using Adam's credit card to buy cheap, unhealthy, disgusting food back in the city (another point, is it that hard to drop by for dinner?!) And then got involved in an alien war. Keith more than earned a full lecture about Self Preservation And How To Avoid Poor Life Choices by Professor Weiss.

And then, Takashi.

He had too much to say, and had been practicing it over for the past five years, and now he couldn't think of a sound to make. Great. Really paid off, Adam. He had prepared a full apology, complemented by a poetic declaration of eternal love and support through thick and thin (enough to melt even the coldest of hearts) but at this moment, two things rendered all that work useless. First, It has been five years, so the apology expired, that's how it works; And Two, Adam couldn't remember if the 'I shouldn't have given an ultimatum' was before or after the 'All that I could think of was you, hurting up there while I was down here'. The rest of it? Somewhere buried deep in his memory where anxious thoughts kept it captive. There was no way for him to remember the whole thing _right now_ , while his mind is racing at 100 miles per hour.

It's funny really, the day of the Kerberos launch, Adam had changed his mind immediately and tried to make it in time; Only to see them from the second floor. Back then, the whole apology was memorized and ready to go, at the tip of his tongue. Now, when there's only a _hospital door_ between them, Adam can't think of anything. 

Oh, the irony.

 _Foda-se, I'm going to say everything, not like he hasn't seen me drunk._ Except Drunk Adam was way more clearer than Emotional Adam. At least Drunk Adam knew how to form a coherent phrase without stuttering every other word, while Emotional Adam couldn't even deny help because he's too busy trying to figure out words,

"You can send them in," This was a Poor Idea from all angles. With capital 'P' and 'I'. Adam needed time to collect himself, that was a fact, but his haste to see Takashi again was way stronger; He missed the guy too much, spend too many nights awake because of a stupid argument, sometimes at a bar where he could drown his sorrows.

"I'll just finish here, You can calm down first." He nodded, relaxing back on the bed. The hard, uncomfortable bed. Scratch that, this bed was the most comfortable thing he laid on in the past three years. The bar is at the ground though. Concrete and an old, smelly blanket were his bed for quite sometime. And then sand and hard rock.

He heard the woman leaving the room, and prepared himself for what was to come. It didn't help, he couldn't calm down. He felt the sweat building. This is taking a bit too long, maybe they weren't there, which means he has more time to prepare. He wasn't ready, just, really, really wanted to see them again. Oh God, it had been five years, of course he wo-

"Adam?" Came the quiet call. So, so quiet the blood pumping in his ears almost drowned it out. But, just hearing his name, it made all that anxiety morph into an overwhelming need. Which made his eyes sting even more, this time with tears fighting to come out. He wasn't ready for this, not yet.

"Ta-" He held himself. Was it really in his right to call him that? After all this time, after everything? Felt too personal, and the uncertainty that they were still that close... "Shiro." What would he give to rip out these bandages covering his eyes, see him, just look at him and remind himself what Shiro looked like; He probably changed a lot, maybe he got some more muscle, most likely; Did he got hurt? He shivered at the thought of anything making a permanent mark on Shiro. What about his personality, was he still the same guy who would trade chores so Adam made a certain dish? Who threw himself in any dangerous situation because he had zero self-preservation? The same Shiro that left for Kerberos? "I... You're- How di- Here, I mean-"

"Yeah, yeah I'm here I'm-" He heard the man approaching quickly, felt his hand lightly touching Adam's. It was warm and comforting; Shiro's hand felt rougher, as expected, of course, and Adam gladly held it; His grip wasn't firm tough. "I'm here, Adam. I'm back," His voice was cracking, filled with emotion. And Adam couldn't hold back his own, he gripped Shiro's hand tighter and brought it closer to his chest, ignoring the pain in his left arm, he did his best at a hug; Feeling Shiro sobbing as much as he heard him. "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I didn't listen, I'm sorr-"

"I'm the one who should be apologizing," He breathed, holding back his own sobs. "I tried to keep you away from- From all of _that_ , it wasn't- right," He did his best to rub circles in Shiro's back, but with his arm like this, it was impossible, so he just moved it up and down, holding back the hiss of pain. Adam felt his throat convulsing with a held back cry, "I shouldn't have said all that, would've saved us both so much stress,"

"No, you just didn't want me to-" Oh no, he wouldn't be telling Adam right now about _that_ , no way. "You didn't want me to get hurt, you wanted us to enjoy what time we had together..." He sighed in his hair, begging for things to go back to normal. Their normal. Randomly grabbing the other for a kiss, compliment fights, pet names, cuddling on the couch- Shit, he really missed Adam. "And I left because... I didn't want you tied to me, while I was dying." He felt Adam's hold tighten around him, and at this point it had to be hurting his arm. Shiro took to gently run his fingers in he dirty, oily hair. He couldn't imagine how bad it was to live out there.

"You freaking idiot, you know very well what I have to say about that!" He growled, but it wasn't for real; At least not by the way he was still clinging to Shiro. And Shiro clinging to him. What exactly happened to five years apart? You know, taking things slow, and all that. Adam didn't want to think about it right now. Just- This. This was good. "Ugh, get a doctor here right now, I'll make them cut these bandages off! What kind of reunion is this, I can't even see you!" Shiro laughed, praying that it didn't sound as forced. The only thing keeping Adam calm and docile right now was that, in his mind, Shiro was one hundred percent fine.

"Don't worry," He rested his chin on top of Adam's head, sighing. "I'm sure you'll be free of that soon enough," Adam hummed, dropping his bandaged arm. Shiro took the chance to sit down, taking Adam's hand on his own. His left hand. "... Can you... Tell me what happened? If you don't mind, of course." Adam took a long breath, releasing it slowly.

"I don't mind but," He turned to Shiro, even if Adam couldn't see anything. "You'd think being thrown in a space war with what, five teenagers, the most powerful weapon in the universe and being the leader of this- Voltron thing, would be more interesting than living among the roaches." He paused, the sly smile being replaced by a hint of disgust. "Definitely not my proudest moment."

"Ew," Shiro chuckled, ripping a weak laugh from Adam as well. "If it's any comfort, I also slept in a slump for a while," Adam's lips curled, building up in a snarl.

"No that isn't comforting, why the heck where you sleeping in a slump?!" Shiro winced. Since there was no way around this talk at this point, might as well tell him. Not the dying part. That would be a little too much. "Tak- Shiro, what. Happened?"

"I will tell you but- Can you... Maybe, just- Just if it doesn't feel too weird... Still call me Takashi?" Shiro made the best puppy eyes he could muster, but quickly realized that it wouldn't be helping right now.

"Reall-! I mean, sure, yeah." He cleared his throat, "Fine then, _Takashi_ ," Oh, the name felt right. For both. It just felt so weird calling him Shiro. "Also, I'm currently wearing Puppy Eyes Protection Armor Level Ten, give it up." The snicker that followed helped to ease the nerves, if only by a bit. Adam was still pretty wired to finding out why was Takashi sleeping in piss poor conditions. It just doesn't add up, Save the Universe + The Kindest Man = Sleeping on the Ground? Nonsense. "Now, what you were saying?"

"Uuuuh.... Well... When we vanished, back in Kerberos..."

So Shiro told him. Everything. From the capture, to being separated from Sam, to how the Galra send him and Matt to the Arena. His torture there, the way his disease almost got him killed. He made sure to leave the loosing his arm part rather vague. 'They tampered with my arm for a while... It's not the same anymore, but it works, so no worries!'. He left out his death. He left out the clone. He left out Keith fighting the clone. He also left out his clone now being him. But, as much as Shiro tried to make it seem like a walk in the park, that everything was one hundred percent fine, just so Adam wouldn't have to worry about them on top of almost dying, his plan didn't work. At all.

"I can't believe it... I can't believe you two got involved in a _war_! A war, Takashi!" The beeping got slightly faster, and just like that, Adam laid back down, his hand seeking out Shiro. He gladly held it, with a firm grip to assure he wasn't going anywhere. Adam sighed, he already felt exhausted, and yet, he still had a lot to say. He took a deep breath, holding the air for a few seconds before slowly letting it out. "... I want to cuss at you..."

"You know I won't understand anything you say." Shiro ran his fingers in Adam's hair. He still didn't dare touch Adam with his right hand. But, right now this was enough to get the taller man to calm down.

"Yeah, I know..." He sighed in defeat. This whole thing of never swearing in English was really a struggle. It was easy the first few months, but then you realize no one knows what you're talking about and they're just terrified of how loud you can be. Shame. ".... I'm going to do it anyway..."

"How about you rest and get better, then cuss me out?" Adam brought his hand to rub against the bandages in his eyes. They felt _so_ weird, one minute it's burning, the other itching...

"Sounds like a plan, my head is killing me anyway," Shiro smiled at himself. Crisis avoided, time to let Adam rest, as he should.

But...

He really didn't want to leave the room just yet. He needed a little longer with Adam. And, from the way the other man was still gripping his hand, Adam also didn't want him to leave. Shiro grabbed his phone, sending a message to Keith, warning him he would stick around for a while. He debated sending one to Iverson, telling him Shiro would take the day off. But what excuse to use? Somehow, Iverson still didn't know about Adam, and if Shiro knew anything about the two, the less time they had to spend knowing the other was around, the better for everyone involved. He sighed, giving out the excuse of a killing headache, and sent it.

He used his prosthetic to grab the chair by the wall, so he could sit down instead of kneeling on the hard floor. It made a little sound for a second. Adam twitched at that, and his grip tightened.

**Fuck.**

Shiro went rigid as a rock, waiting for a reaction. He rapidly lifted the chair and brought it close, sitting down quickly. He could play it off as it being near. Adam wouldn't know right? Right?

_Wrong!_

He spend quite a few days in hospital rooms with Shiro, it was only a matter of seconds for him to figure out something was wrong.

But instead, Adam laid back down with a loud groan, letting himself fall on the bed without ceremony. He winced a bit, then relaxed. Soon enough, the beeping became slightly slower, and his breaths became softer. Shiro smiled, already feeling the tears threatening to fall. He would've freaked out and paced the room, looking back at Adam every chance, just to calm his nerves; Would've gripped his hair and silently cry in relief;

And yet, he stood right where he was, holding Adam's hand as he slept. He didn't need to freak out, he needed to feel Adam, alive. So, just holding his hand, watching his chest slowly move, and hearing the steady beep from the heart monitor, already calmed him down enough.

_This was right._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Adam has beef with Iverson from cadet days, it's a fact just like the sky is blue;  
> 2\. Because of events to be revealed in future chapters, Adam only swears in Portuguese. Everything else is freaking and hecking.
> 
> hey do you know what happens when you fuck off to space with your kind-of-adoptive-father's ex-fiancee without giving him a heads up? Keith will find out.


	5. Meet Me in the Woods

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOf, so that was two months without a sign of life huh. But, I do have a good reason for it.
> 
> It is my last school year, everyone is out for blood, and doing everything to get ready for the test of our lives. So, kind of some pressure on my back. hooray. Plus, I got accepted in a great English School and that is eating some of my free time.
> 
> With that, I lost all focus on my works (both fan works, and my original ones) which resulted in this chapter, and btw, not really my proudest thing, and half a Take the Shot chapter in the span of two months. This is unusual, because even if I'm not working on these two, at least something is being produced, but this wasn't the case. So, I whipped out my ol' reliable (OMAM, as you can see) and here we are.
> 
> REGARDLESS, here's a (not so good) chapter, enjoy!

 

"I need to get out of here." His growl was ignored. Was the doctor pretending to not hear him or what? "C'mon, I feel great already! Just sign the pap-"

"You feel great because your blood is fifty percent painkillers at this point. I can't discharge you the day after you're admitted, so please, _let me do my job_ , Mr. Weiss." Adam scowled at that. Okay, fair enough. He did feel a bit float-y.

"And how long until you figure out my arm?" He heard an exasperated sigh.

"We'll get to it today." Adam huffed, throwing himself back on the bed. "Can you not open your stitches for five minutes?!"

He snorted. This was indeed pretty strong, he barely felt anything on his body. A far cry from what was like back in the cave. A cold shiver ran up his spine just thinking about it. Still, in all fairness, Adam was restless. He got used to pushing through the pain; This included making trips to the surface to get supplies, killing sentries, and distracting troops so the group could move. But now he needed to stay still.

After Adam woke up from his short nap, he and Takashi shared a few more words, then the doctor came and kicked him out, and started to unhook Adam from some of the equipment, now that he was awake, and didn't need to be monitored the whole time; But what was really getting to him was this gnawing thought,

_"Keith is here too, he said it was better for us to talk first though,"_

So yeah, Keith was also here. Fierce, fiery Keith who needed to go swinging fists and letting everyone know what was on his mind. To the point Adam had to have a civil conversation with Iverson (ew). And Adam wanted to see him. Well, at least talk; from the looks of it he wouldn't be seeing anything anytime soon. And oh, did Adam had what to say; Maybe it would be easier to divide it in topics.

And no, Adam wasn't mad at Keith, at all; Well, maybe a bit, about going to space with Takashi without letting him know that the guy was ALIVE, but not nearly mad enough to not want to see him. Just angry enough to have Keith clean a bathroom with a toothbrush while Adam lectured him.

But who could blame him? Adam had dressed his wounds, nursed him back to health, fed him, and nearly threw hands with a social worker, all for Keith's well being. Of course Adam was more concerned about seeing Keith again than yelling at him.

But, he wouldn't get to do neither while the doctor was here. So, time for him to leave.

"Do you smell that?" He faked sniffing the air, getting the doctors attention.

"Smell what?" He heard the man trying to figure out what was in the air. _This is too easy_

Adam held back his smirk. It wouldn't do him any good. "I think it's cigarettes, but-" Before Adam could finish, the doctor had ran out the door, fuming in his steps. Huh, guess he really did take his job seriously, after all. Even if that meant being a prick. Regardless, as soon as he got out, he heard someone else come in.

"Adam? Are you awake?" Who could've guessed, Keith has no respect for visiting hours. Adam shot him a grin, waving him off with his good arm.

"Yep, and, also, high on morphine." Adam heard Keith sitting down besides his bed, chuckling. "What, I get no hug? I fed you, you Scrap," Keith laughed, and Adam felt the kid throwing himself in his arms, hugging his tightly. Wait, not this- "When did you get this big?!" He hugged back, but didn't last long. He couldn't believe this. "You were literally a runt last time I saw you!"

Keith placed his hands on Adam's arms, lightly pushing back a bit. His smile was still huge, though; How could it not be? "And you didn't look like a stick figure, Douche," Adam lightly punched his arm, almost missing it. "What did you even tell him?"

Adam sat up, feeling dizzy. Okay, maybe the drug high wasn't good. Noted. "Told him I thought someone was smoking," He heard Keith snickering. "What?"

"You're losing your gift. I remember you convincing an entire line that the store was closing," Adam groaned, rolling his eyes behind the bandages.

"Well, you try not making up excuses for years, let's see how many classes you can ditch." Another snicker. "Still can't believe you've grown so much, you were supposed to stay a Scrap."

"The best part isn't even proving you wrong," Adam growled at him, crossing his arm. "You have no idea what happened up there,"

And so, the tale begun. Again. Only that Keith was much more... Open about what went down than Takashi. Specifically, the part where Takashi was _missing an **ARM**_! And while Keith quickly reassured him that it was all fine, no need to worry, the new one is very cool, Adam was still pretty pissed. Still, Adam had to laugh when Keith mentioned a space mall. A space mall that contained a cow. Which they still had with them. Oh, he was going down there and feeding her corn.

Then there were the Blade of Marmora. An organization created to overthrow Zarkon, with some guy named Kolivan on command. Keith told him about some members, people that died in the war. Ulaz, Thace, Antok, Regris. Those names seemed to be slightly more important.

"Can you pass me the water?" Keith hummed in confirmation. His head gave a little pang all of a sudden. right above his eyes too, where he couldn't press to dull it.

Keith was just talking about how they shut down Zarkon's ship, at the cost of Thace's life, when the door swung open, and Adam cursed under his breath. Should've imagined that the man would be back eventually; Still, he did take his time.

"It's Not. Visiting. Hours." Keith let out dull hum, barely looking at the doctor. But, he squeezed Adam's shoulder and got up, quietly leaving the hospital room. "Can't believe I listened to someone who's high,"

"What, I did smell smoke." He noted with disinterest.

 

\---

 

Shiro kept looking at his datapad, checking for any new messages, any updates. The sounds of the room around him were drowned out by his own thoughts. Mostly, it was Adam, nothing new. But, they were now recovering pieces of the wasp. Pidge had spend quite sometime bugging the staff so she could take a look, but Iverson was still trying to keep her off.

Regardless, there had been quite a few pieces recovered; Granted, not nearly enough to figure out how the hell that thing worked, but enough to lift spirits around.

"Shiro, are you listening to us?" He quickly put his datapad away, trying to play it off. Allura just gave him an unimpressed look.

He sighed, dropping his head on his hands. "Sorry, just- Still processing some stuff... You were talking about the new Teleduv," She glanced off playfully, and got back to her explanation.

"Since we have established communications again, Coran and I have been making a list of what we will need to build a new one. It will take some time, but also will cut down much of our travel time."

"Seems worth it. Anyone has contacted yet?" He saw the moment her eyes went big with joy, and she started to explain the various groups trying to help. Now was they were getting close to ending the war, and it felt like everyone knew it, and were doing everything possible to push forward with everything they had.

There was still much to do, but it seemed way easier than before. The Galra were no longer an organized force, just scrambled soldiers, fighting each other for power. Of course, even without a clear goal, and going at each others necks, they were still dangerous. They still had powerful weapons, and a great strength in numbers.

At least they weren't dealing with Lotor. He couldn't imagine what would happen if they also had to deal with Sincline on their necks. From what the Paladins told him, it was an absolute disaster, and how they lost the Castle of Lions.

Shiro shook his head, trying to keep his eyes open and focus. He couldn't wait to lay in his bed, sleep like a rock. It would be better with Adam there, though.

Aaand, that brought a new problem to be solved. What were they? From that reunion, still too close, but from the time spent away, not really THAT close. Broke off the marriage, but Shiro never gave the ring back (he left it with Keith, didn't want to risk losing it. Then Keith gave it back to him and right now it was well hidden from danger.). Neither did Adam, it was with his things (side note, how was that gun still around?!) Where did they stand now? Besides, they changed; hardly the same from years ago, they would have to learn each other all over again before... Well, before they could start over; Or pick where they left off? He didn't know what would be better.

Keith said he would stick around, and Lance went back to his own room to sleep a little bit, asked them to warn him when he could pay Adam a visit. It did help put Shiro's worries to rest; He didn't felt comfortable leaving Adam alone, at least not yet. Oh, another thing he had to worry about,

Telling everyone about Adam. Sooner or later they would meet, and Shiro preferred everyone had an idea of what they were getting into; Not only Adam, not knowing most of the paladins (and rest of their crew) but his team. Adam was way more... Brutal, than what they were used to. Not in a physically violent way (although, yeah, that too) more in his personality. He was blunt, even back in their cadet days.

Talking about that, he wondered how Adam and the alteans would get on. Allura wasn't keen on violence, and Adam grew up around it, then the whole thing with Iverson, and-

Shit, these two would definitely butt heads, he knew it.

Shiro sighed. He wouldn't be mulling over something that didn't even happen yet, better to wait and see. Maybe Allura and Adam would end up getting along -IF they left their battle approaches out of their talking topics, that is.

Meeting over, time to take over Keith's spot in the Med Wing.

 

\---

 

First thing he noticed, was Lance. He was sitting right on the same spot from yesterday. He was nervously bouncing his leg, picking at a string in his jacket. Plus, worryingly looking at the door...

_Shit,_

Shiro jogged over to him, startling the younger male and breaking his anxious trance. Lance made to get up but quickly gave it up.

Lance looked at him briefly, then back at the door, focused. "Keith went to drink some water," He said, letting go of the string and crossing his arms, still bouncing his right leg, although slower now. "Doctor said he was having another seizure." He breathed out slowly, not looking at Shiro, just the door. "He bit his tongue and was bleeding a lot." Shiro choked on a gasp, then carefully sat down, looking at Lance, waiting for more information. "They tried to stop it, but it didn't work. He just- Didn't react to the medicine, I think."

"It lasted for twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes.

Shiro went completely pale.

After five minutes, it was considered dangerous. Ten, and it's emergency. Twenty whole minutes?! _Shit, these were Adam's first seizures ever, he wasn't epileptic, what was even causing this?!_

Shiro swallowed, opened his mouth and quickly closed it again, feeling nauseated. Breath in, breath out. In, and out. "How... How is he now?"

Lance sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Unconscious? They said it could have some-" He bit his tongue, side eyeing Shiro. "Permanent brain damage..."

Shiro didn't answer him. And so they both stood there, being joined by Keith shortly after. They could do nothing but wait, and every second that passed was torturous.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I told myself, "if I'm going to return after two months, how do I make sure it states my style?"
> 
> And then I looked through my notes and "oh yeah the seizures were supposed to keep coming :)" I was going to have a bigger pause between them buuuuut-

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the [rainbow](https://kallezot.tumblr.com/post/180457168612/i-got-fed-up-with-a-fanfiction-im-writing-then) that forced me to finish this, one way or another


End file.
